It is well known to provide apparatus capable of opening and substantially emptying bags of particulate, powdered or pulverulent materials particularly for toxic or hazardous materials, to aid in the speed of production in a process using such materials, and especially for debagging hazardous materials to prevent or minimize human contact during operation and mechanical maintenance with the contents of the bag and to attempt to remove all of the material from the bag. Examples of patents directed to mechanical debagging apparatus are as follows: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,107,995, Statham, et al.; 2,706,567, Luna, et al.; 3,145,858, Helbig; 3,482,718, Moriarty; 3,739,471, Peres; 4,034,877, Bennison; 4,252,489, Mechalas; 4,289,438, Murer; 4,627,781, Borgner; 4,798,508, Lewis.
While the apparatus described in the above-identified patents are useful for debagging and removing most dust-containing and hazardous substances, such apparatus suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages: debagging apparatus used for debagging toxic and hazardous materials should not have a bag opening means that includes moving parts since some of the toxic or hazardous material may become clogged in an area of mechanical movement during operation, making operation and maintenance hazardous; many of the above-described debagging apparatus do not include a rinsing mechanism whereby dust-containing or hazardous materials remaining or entrained within the bag after substantially complete emptying can be carefully rinsed by hand, applying liquid essentially only to interior, usually plastic-lined surfaces of the bag to ensure that essentially all of the bagged material is rinsed from the bag and directed, together with rinse liquid, into a mixing tank without absorption of water-soluble material and rinse water onto an absorbent exterior bag surface; and the above-described apparatus do not include a metered wash liquid supply such that by rinsing an interior surface of the bag with rinse liquid, essentially all of the rinsed bag contents, as well as a known quantity of rinse liquid, are directed into a mixing tank for further processing. These and other disadvantages of prior art bag opening and emptying apparatus have been overcome in accordance with the method and apparatus of the present invention.